Gay Algerian Faces Death If Deported Group Says
By Malcolm Thornberry 365Gay.com European Bureau Chief
365Gay.com,
November 25, 2004
London—A gay Algerian refugee at
risk of deportation from Britain back to his home country could be murdered by
Islamic fundamentalists, he said Thursday.
“I fled Algeria because the Islamists beat me and
threatened to kill me,” he said.
“Being deported back to Algeria would be a nightmare.
It is a very dangerous place for lesbians and gay men. People like me get
killed. I could not cope with always looking over my shoulder, fearful of
being murdered because of my sexuality,” he added.
Fearing retribution he has taken the pseudonym Ramzi
Isalam.
Gay rights group OutRage is backing Isalam’s claim for
refuge in the UK.
Thursday it released a letter sent to Home Secretary,
David Blunkett urging that refugee status be granted.
“The Algerian state is notoriously repressive towards
its homosexual citizens,” the letter said. “The arrest and torture of
gays, by the police and the armed forces, is commonplace. The victims have no
legal redress.
“This persecution is compounded by the rise of an armed
fundamentalist movement, backed Islamist vigilantes. They pose a particularly
grave threat to the security of gay and bisexual Algerians, who are routinely
targeted for beatings, torture, disappearances and often extra-judicial
execution.
Two of Ramzi Isalam’s gay friends were murdered by the
Islamic fundamentalists of the Group Islamique Arme in 1994 and 1996, Outrage
said.
He grew up in a district that was a stronghold of the GIA,
where gay people live in fear of beatings, torture and murder, and witnessed
the stoning of two gay men in the street in 2001.
In 2002, he was found having sex with a man and was
reported to the GIA who sent members to his house. Isalam was beaten and
threatened with death, Outrage said.
In February 2003 he fled to Britain and claimed asylum.
Later that year, his application was refused by the Immigration Appeals
Tribunal.
He is now making a renewed application for asylum on the
grounds that he fears persecution, and possible murder, if he returns to
Algeria.
“The armed insurrection and terrorist campaign by
Islamic fundamentalists poses an extreme danger to every lesbian and gay
Algerian,” said Outrage spokesperson Brett Lock.
“Homosexual prisoners are routinely beaten and raped
with impunity, both by other prisoners and by prison guards,” he added.
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